Multi channel heat exchangers essentially include a distributor which distributes the refrigerant over plural heat exchanger pipes, plural heat exchanger pipes in which the refrigerant is brought into indirect contact with the medium to be cooled or heated and a collector in which the refrigerant is collected from the plural heat exchanger pipes that are typically run in parallel before the refrigerant eventually leaves the heat exchanger.
In the art multi channel heat exchangers are typically configured with a vertical arrangement of the distributors and collectors with horizontally arranged heat transfer pipes arranged there between, wherein the distributors and collectors are typically configured segmented so that portions for collecting and distributing refrigerant are implemented in a vertical component.
For many applications, however, a horizontal arrangement of the heat exchangers is desirable for space reasons or other reasons, so that the known refrigerant collection and -distribution in the customary manner with vertically arranged collector- and distributor portions within a component is omitted due to the small available configuration height.
A heat exchanger in horizontal arrangement or position can be derived from e.g. DE 101 11 384 B4. Due to the dimensions of the heat exchanger it is suitable in particular for large cooling- or heating pump systems that are arranged on flat roofs or on the ground.
Furthermore EP 1 046 875 A2 discloses a multi channel heat exchanger with horizontal arrangement which includes a horizontally arranged distributor tube and a horizontally arranged collector tube.
It is a disadvantage of the recited embodiment that effective oil separation and an effective coolant collector function have to be taken over by additional components which makes using horizontal heat exchangers more difficult and more expensive.